I suppose you are wondering why I’m telling you that I bought a book. After all, this is a blog about baking, and even though I am not a baker I really should, at the very least, keep the focus on baked goods. Truth be told, I’ve bought quite a lot of books since I last posted in this blog which explains a little bit about why it has taken me so long to come back. You can learn more about that in my “shallow” blog (yes another example of blatant self-promotion) so I won’t bore you with the details here. Suffice to say, the reason I am sharing my latest acquisition with you, and perhaps you have guessed by now, is that I didn’t buy just any book. I bought a cookbook. More specifically, a baking cookbook by Tom Moore (with Rebecca Wellman) who co-owns Crust, one of our local and much loved bakeries. Which makes me feel pretty good ‘cause I’ve eaten stuff from Crust lots of times and it’s always delish. And now I can attempt to bake that stuff myself.
Now buying a cookbook might not seem like a really big deal to most people. Admittedly, even I have bought cookbooks in the past, most of which linger on the shelf in my kitchen. But let’s face it, they look good. I mean there’s some cachet in having the “right” books on display. In the 60s and 70s (no, I don’t go any further back than that) for me it was “The Joy of Cooking” that took centre stage. I’m not exactly sure why because, to be honest, back then I got most of my joy from having a “Mama Burger” delivered directly to the window of my car. Nonetheless, when I pick up that book now (of course I still have it) it “appears” to have been used so something from in there must have found its way to my table. Fast forward and the “Best of Bridge” ladies were added to the shelf. From what I recall those books were somewhat revolutionary, mostly because they transitioned from the traditional binding to spiral spines making them infinitely easier to use. At least that’s what I’ve heard. In the 80s we traded our sugary treats for root vegetables with our trio of new age (for the times) soft covers from Harrowsmith. The 90s saw us emulating Umberto because, if we could eat at his restaurants surely we could cook just like him. And while there was a lull in acquisitions over the next few years (work and kids mostly got in the way of pretending we were interested in food) there were the vain attempts at figuring out how to sneak vegetables into meals just like Jessica Seinfeld. As if she ever spent a day pureeing 50 pounds of cauliflower, carrots, broccoli or beets. Get real. She has help and they make gummy vitamins for the rest of us. I would be remiss not to mention the struggle to make elaborately decorated cupcakes a la Martha Stewart. I did try. Once. And most recently I have spent some time admiring the fabulous vegan offerings by Angela Liddon in my two volume set. They were a gift and they absolutely glow up there among my collection.
But here’s the thing. Since I started my “not a baker” journey I have relied, almost exclusively, on the internet. Because on the internet there are literally billions of recipes for anything you can think of. And therein lies the problem. In order to find something on the internet you have to think of it. For me, who is not really a baker, that means looking in my kitchen to see what’s close to the end of life. Like those brown bananas or the blueberries that are getting a little softer than I like on my cereal, and then searching out a recipe that allows me to rescue these items from the compost bin. The result (and I know this because I have read this blog) is a plethora of muffins and loaves. Which is fine, but just a tad boring.
That’s why, when I saw the Crust cookbook at my local big box store with the great prices, I decided to put it in my cart. I have a somewhat delusional notion that it will help me to expand my horizons and challenge me to become a better baker. To go beyond muffins and loaves. Maybe even bake a cake one of these days. So, for the next little while I will be selecting recipes from the book which I won’t be able to post because of copyright laws which I dutifully respect. What I will do though, whenever possible, is find a fac simile on the internet (surely not too hard to do with the billions of recipes there) and I will share that link.
To begin this new baking mission of mine I decided to randomly open the book and bake whatever I found on that page. Guess what!. I landed on the Zucchini Marmalade Cake which looked a lot like a loaf to me. I know what you’re thinking but give me a break. I had never made a cake/loaf with marmalade before. Besides there was a jar of it in the fridge that needed using up. Turns out, it is really, really good! If you want to try one, this comes pretty close.
Tartine’s Zucchini and Orange Marmalade Tea Bread
Here’s the stats on my bake:
Recipe: Prep time: Tom doesn’t give prep times. Another reason why I like his book so much
Me: 45 minutes to get this puppy in the oven. Pretty much par for the course.
Favourite thing about this recipe: I’ve never used marmalade in a loaf before so I could pretend it was a whole new thing.
Least Favourite thing about this recipe: Toasting nuts. Usually I give this step a pass but Tom is pretty adamant about staying the course. Just be careful. They burn very quickly!
What I learned: Call it what you will, a loaf is a loaf is a loaf.
I Am Not A Baker 